[This article was assigned by Media Bistro, a Web portal for working journalists and writers.]
by Jennie S. Bev
Journalists and writers have a strong social function, which is more than mere reporting. We are purveyor of truths, which demands us to catch up with the advancement of human civilization, particularly within the genre or beat we are endowed with. Such a privilege needs to be preserved by acknowledging our intellect and capacity in learning new skills and new knowledge by striving for the best. For this, we need more than the so-called “muse” and flowing creative juice.
Good thing is, there are plenty opportunities to receive grants, residencies, and fellowships of all kinds for all kinds of writers and journalists. Many writers and journalists claim that they are gifts of time and space. They open many doors and if you think you won’t be qualified to win one, change your mind set.
Nieman Fellowship at Harvard and PEN Fellowships are undoubtedly very prestigious, but there are plenty others that you are likely to be qualified for, including for non-US-based writers and journalists. Indonesian journalist Andreas Harsono was a Nieman fellow. Aim high, but be realistic. Lesser-known grants, fellowships, and writers’ residencies would serve as excellent door openers to high profile ones and better career opportunities, higher positions, and even professorships.
You can start by becoming a subscriber to PEN American Center grants and writing awards database that costs $12 per year. Two other good sources are the free listing at AgentQuery.com and the subscription newsletter at FundsForWriters.com. There are also minority journalists’ associations, like Asian American Journalist Association. Whether you consider yourself a local writer, a minority writer, a “blurred” genre writer, an activist writer, or a religious writer, there are places where you can belong in the journalism and literary world, and there are people who support you.
What: It is the gift of time and space
You probably have heard this, “I think I can write a book but I don’t have the time or the resources to sustain me to write it.” A seasoned multiple-grant winner, David Shields said, “The best thing about a grant is the guilt it induces: you’ve received this money; you feel obligated to produce something.” He confirmed that he was very productive when in residencies, which explained why he applied for and won many of them.
Shields, Professor of English at University of Washington in Seattle, who is the author of ten books, among which include Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (Knopf, February 2010) and The Thing about Life is that One Day You’ll be Dead (Knopf, February 2008), has won multiple prestigious writing awards, fellowships, and residencies. Among fellowships won included PEN/Revson Foundation Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, two NEA fellowships, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation grant, and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in fiction. He also won these residencies: Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Ragdale Foundation, and Millay Colony (Edna St. Vincent Millay Award).
When: Better start preparing now rather than later
Summer Wood, an author who writes stories that play out against a particular landscape, recently won A Room of Her Own Literary Gift of Freedom (AROHO), which is a $50,000 cash award intended to free a woman writer of the obligations of making a living in order to pursue her art. AROHO was founded in the spirit of Virginia Woolf’s. According to her, The AROHO Gift of Freedom application process is extensive and time-consuming.
“It would be better to get familiar with what are expected out of you, like downloading the application early from the beginning and get a sense of whether this grant is appropriate for you. If you decide to apply, spend enough time on the essays to clearly convey the scope and value of your project, and be honest and comprehensive in your responses to the other questions. Follow the instructions to the letter but be creative in how you do it. Don’t neglect anything. Above all, make sure the writing sample you send is the best you’ve got. The application is a complete package, but I think the work itself is what wins the award,” she said.
Depending on requirements, some program requires a draft of a book already at hand when applying. Some others simply need some writing samples or a book or monograph proposal, like Millay Colony for the Arts. Others require published clips and some professional experiences. Make sure to find out what are required and stick to the guidelines.
Why: It brings out the best of you and your works
Janet E. Irwin, a novelist and a “human interest” newspaper writer, whose day job is chairman of the International Language Department at Springboro High School, Springboro, Ohio, where she teaches Spanish and English, won residencies at Midwest Writers Conference Fellowship, the Leo Love Fiction Award at the Taos Writers’ Conference, and Antioch Writers Workshop. She said that she wanted to work with professional writers and each of these opportunities made her realize about her strengths as a writer and also how she could improve her craft. Beyond the actual writing activities, these fellowships allowed her to network with wonderful writers who were supportive and gave good counsel.
Jenifer Nipps, whose interest includes creativity, the writing craft, and plus-size fashion, writes regularly for OWFI Report, the newsletter for the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. and has a nonfiction book on plus-size fashion being brewed. She spent from mid-September to mid-October as a writer-in-residence last year at Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This year, she has been invited again for a two-week period.
There, Nipps learned how to be more efficient and be better at time management. She had two goals for the residency: to finish a rough draft of a book-length manuscript and to edit another previously-completed manuscript, of which both are currently under consideration at different publishers. She said, “It was through a period of intense focus that I was able to develop that particular habit, which has continued after I returned.”
Bonus: Better assignments, better posts, and be a professor (if you want to)
While not every writer or journalist wants to become a lecturer or a trainer, which eventually culminates in professorship, grants, fellowships, and residencies definitely open doors to this career path. Most recipients usually go home with a sense of renewal and new confidence in their writing skills. Jenifer Nipps, for instance, received better assignments, which stemmed from her newly found conviction to send queries to places she did not even dream of sending. Others have manuscripts ready to be published, which naturally open many new doors as a “published” author.
As a 2003 finalist of EPPIE Award for excellence in electronic publishing, I was able to apply for an adjunct professor position at Western Governors University and was accepted without much hindrance. Many writing assignments were also results from adding this achievement to my resume, including an agency representation offer for a business book. While it is probably too early to say what being a 2009 Peace Writer at Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at University of San Diego commencing in September 2009, would bring to the plate, it is for sure going to be quite a learning experience. Merlyna Lim, a West Java-born assistant professor at Arizona State University at Tempe, also won several grants and fellowships prior to start teaching there.
Creative nonfiction author and English Professor David Shields earned his professorship within twelve years, which is quite an accelerated pace, which is partly due to the thirty six grants, fellowships, and awards he had won since 1980. Today, he is the author of ten books, a few best sellers, hundreds of published articles, and numerous TV and radio appearances.
At last, while it might sound like a cliché, let’s recall Ralph Waldo Emerson’s adage, “Don’t go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Seek for that special award. There must be one for you.[]
Jennie S. Bev is a writer based in Northern California. She can be found at JennieSBev.com.
